Mahmoud al-Zahar (Arabic: محمود الزهار‎ Maḥmūd az-Zahhār) (born 1945) is a Palestinian politician. He is a co-founder of Hamas and a member of the Hamas leadership in the Gaza Strip. Since the formation of the Hamas/"Change and Reform" government in the Palestinian National Authority in March 2006, al-Zahar has served as foreign minister in the government of prime minister Ismail Haniyeh. Prior to that he was seen as a major candidate among the Hamas members elected to the Palestinian Legislative Council for prime minister, as he was at that time the most senior official within the organization. His son, a member of the Hamas military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, was killed by Israeli fire in Gaza on 5 January 2008.[1]

Hamas

Instrumental to the creation of Hamas in 1987, al-Zahar has remained a senior official and spokesperson for the group and is rumoured to have succeeded to leadership of the group following Israel's assassination of Ahmed Yassin in 2004. Hamas routinely denied this rumour, but refused to name who their new leader was, for fear of Israeli action.

In response to a campaign of suicide bombings by the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, an Israeli F-16 dropped on 10 September 2003 a large bomb over his house in the Rimal neighborhood of Gaza, which only managed to slightly wound him, while his son Khaled, and a personal bodyguard were killed, and twenty others wounded including his daughter Rima. His house was destroyed, and ten other houses nearby were damaged, as well as the nearby Al-Rahman mosque.[2] The resulting funeral was attended by over two thousand mourners, who called on Hamas to avenge the deaths.

On 15 January 2008, al-Zahar's son Hussam was reportedly killed in an IDF air strike on a car full of Hamas fighters in northern Gaza.

In 2010, al-Zahar revealed to the press that Yasser Arafat had instructed Hamas to launch militant attacks—including suicide bombings—against Israel in 2000, due to peace talks not going anywhere.[3]

Foreign Minister

On 20 March 2006, Hamas named al-Zahar foreign minister. Al-Zahar's main challenge has been to break the US-led diplomatic boycott of the Haniyeh government.

On 14 June 2006, Palestinian officials reported that Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud al-Zahar brought twelve suitcases stuffed with US$26.7 million in cash into Gaza through its border with Egypt, which is controlled by Palestinian guards loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah. Al-Zahar was at least the third known Hamas official to be caught with large sums of cash: Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri had been stopped the previous month.[4]

Hardline position

Incitement controversy

During the 2008-2009 Gaza War, al-Zahar, during a television broadcast, was reported to have said that the Israelis "have legitimised the murder of their own children by killing the children of Palestine... They have legitimised the killing of their people all over the world by killing our people."[5] This remark was widely reported as advocating the "murder" of Jewish children worldwide.[6][7][8]Maajid Nawaz condemned the remarks as "depraved" and "perverse Al Qaida logic," writing that, as opposed to Hamas, "Israel does not have an active policy of deliberately capturing children to murder them, or even deliberately murdering civilians for that matter." [9] Basim Naim, the minister of health in the Hamas government in Gaza, said Zahar's statements had been misquoted and mistranslated, and that what he did was to "warn that by carrying out these barbaric massacres of children and women, and by destroying our mosques, the Zionists are creating the conditions for people to believe it is justified or legitimate to take revenge....Dr Zahar did not even mention 'Jews' in his comments".[10]

Park51 endorsement

In an interview on New York’s WABC radio, al-Zahar was asked by Aaron Klein to comment on the construction of the mosque Park51 near the World Trade Center site. Zahar, endorsed the building, by saying, "We have to build the mosque as you are allowed to build the church and the Israeli are building their holy places. We have to build everywhere — in every area we have Muslims, we have to pray, and this mosque is the only site of prayer especially for the people when they are looking to be in the group — not individual".[11][12][13][14]

Personal life

Al-Zahar has had four children with his wife Summaya, including their first son, Khaled, born in 1974, a daughter Rima born in 1983.[15]